1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scanner device configured so that a cover attached pivotably to a scanner body functions as a document ejection tray.
2. Description of the Related Art
A scanner device includes a document insertion opening and a document ejection opening and is configured to read a document inserted from the document insertion opening and then eject the document from the document ejection opening. The scanner device further includes a document feed tray for placing a stock of documents thereon and a document ejection tray for receiving ejected documents and is configured so as to be able to successively feed the topmost documents of the stack placed on the document feed tray into the document insertion opening, read them, and then, after finishing reading them, hold the documents ejected from the document ejection opening on the document ejection tray.
In recent years, in offices and the like, demand has been rising for small desktop scanners suited for the application of being placed on the desks of individuals and digitizing paper documents. In such a desktop scanner, in order to minimize the surface area occupied when not in use, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-343271, it is preferable for the document feed tray to be made foldable on the scanner body. Further, it is preferable for the document ejection tray as well to be held inside the scanner body when not being used and to be pulled out to the front of the scanner body when used or to fold up on the scanner body.
In a scanner device, in order to enhance operability, operation buttons are arranged on the upper surface of the scanner body. On the other hand, the document ejection opening is often formed at the lower part of the front surface of the scanner device in consideration of the ejected document's handleability. Further, the document ejection tray requires a sufficient length in the document ejection direction to receive and store documents ejected from the document ejection opening. Accordingly, in order to enable a sufficiently long document ejection tray to fold up on the scanner body, it has been necessary to connect the front surface and the upper surface of the scanner body with a smoothly curved surface to form one continuous surface so that the document ejection tray is able to generally extend along the surface of the scanner body when the document ejection tray is folded up on the scanner body, or to make the front surface of the scanner body extending above the document ejection opening a slanting surface so as to substantially eliminate the upper surface and arrange the operation buttons on the slanting surface. This causes constraints in design. Further, it is possible to make the document ejection tray a telescoping type so as to secure a sufficient length for the document ejection tray. However, in this case, there is the problem in that mechanical faults frequently occur.